Milan

Milan is not a tourist city. My bad American analogy is that Rome is like going to New York (in the 1990's), Florence is like San Francisco, Venice is like New Orleans, and Milan is like Chicago. You have to work a little harder to see the sites in this large, busy city, which is Italy's financial and fashion center.

That said, we have had a great time here. Last night we went out for an amazing dinner at Carlo e Camilla, where the restaurant design, set in an old sawmill, is an attraction in itself. The good news is the food and drinks lived up to the ambiance, but this place is a scene. Milanese are mega fashionable to begin with, so we were way out of our league here. Luckily we got there at 8 pm, so it was still quite, with mostly tourists eating. By the time we left it was packed out with a very fashionable crowd. One of the best things about this place is the cocktails, so get there early for a drink before dinner. Also, almost all the wine is only 20 euros, and it is very good.  I had heard the portions were small, but we found them to be ample, and we did not leave hungry - In fact we have not left any meal in Italy hungry.

Today we took a tour of Milan (more on tours later). We saw the castle, The Scala Opera House, the cathedral - which took 500 years to build, and was finished by Napoleon - and most famously Leonardo's Last Supper. All the sites are worth the trip, but you will need to book the viewing of the last supper a month or two in advance as it sells out in the high tourist season. I don't think the guide was as valuable here in Milan as in other cities. You could easily get by with the audio guides and none of the lines were so long that it is worth paying extra for skipping them with a guide.

These pictures are all of the cathedral, the first statue is by Leonardo of a cardinal who was skinned alive, note the anatomically correct detail.

This is castle where the dukes lived in the 14th and 15th century. Milan did not become a part of Italy until 1921.

This is not a real picture of the last supper, as no cameras are allowed.  In fact, this is by far the most closely guarded tourist attraction we have been to. You have to go through several holding rooms before you even get to it. The highlight of the tour was when the tour guide said the painting suggested Jesus might have been gay as Peter was his closest disciple and he is painted to look like a beautiful women. 

This is the inside of the Opera House, we weren't supposed to take pictures, but there were no guards around.

Here is a short note on tours. I highly recommend Walks of Italy. They keep their groups to 12 people and all the guides we had were well trained and full of great local knowledge. I also thought the prices were very reasonable. If you can avoid it, don't do an all day tour in the summer, it's pretty tiring to be out in the heat all day. Walks of Italy's tour was sold out on the date we wanted in Milan, so we went with a larger group and it paled in comparison.  It's hard to keep up and really see a site with 30+ people. If you can afford it, private guides are the way to go, but they can get spendy. A tour of the Vatican, can easily run $500 vs. ours was $75 per person.

A short note on hotels. There is a difference between three, four and five star hotels. We stayed in four star hotels in Rome and Florence and they were great. The three star hotel we stayed at in Venice was fine, but it was a noticeable step down. The staff was very nice, but there are a lot of differences in the room size, air conditioning, bathroom quality, sheets, etc. On the other side of that coin, I am not sure it's worth paying more for a five star hotel. Our hotel in Milan is like a lot of the places I stay for work, a little too precious and hipster. Again the staff is excellent, but everything costs a little more and it starts to add up when you are not on an expense account.

Milan is not a great walking city, but they have streetcars and a Metro. It would have been smarter to get a hotel closer to the center of town.